Lost and Found
by Starkid Ninja
Summary: Blaine left Ohio to acheve his big shot dreams in new york when he was 17. His dreams fell though and so did his life. He now lives on the streets begging for food until he runs into an old high school friend. Can the things you lost really come back?
1. Chapter 1

Blaine sat on the cold metal bench arms curled around himself in an attempt to shield his body from the cool autumn wind. He had been sat like that for the past hour watching people hastily walk down the busy streets of New York. He saw one smartly dressed woman stomp out of an office block. She had a first class bitch face on and looked like she could kill someone right now. Blaine watched her walk halfway into the road to hail a cab. The little yellow car pulled up next to her and she quickly jumped in it and slammed the door. Blaine wondered what her story was. What was with her angry looking face? Had she just been fired? Maybe she had just broken up with her boyfriend. Where was the cab taking her? Home? To a bar?

Blaine liked trying to work out everyone's story. Maybe it was because he didn't have anything else to do or just because he didn't really have one of his own.

He sat there day after day watching people go around living there busy lives. Never doing anything for his own life. The fact he didn't really have a life. He had no friends, no family that he saw regularly. He didn't even have his own space. He had been living on the street since he was seventeen. He had moved to New York in hope of fame and fortune. He had auditioned for every Broadway show there was. After two months of trying for parts he still had nothing. Before he left Ohio he contacted an old family friend, named Joel, who he knew lived in the city. Blaine had stayed with Joel for three months. It was a good three months he didn't have any parents breathing down his neck, No home work to worry about. Although he had to think about money and work, he felt free, like no one could hurt him.

But all things good come to an end. Joel had lost his place at collage and he couldn't afford to keep his apartment. Blaine had been chuck onto the street along with his roommate. They stayed together for a while. Sleeping in subway stations under an old, threadbare, blanket. But Joel had gotten himself arrested for breaking and entering. Joel was the only person he knew in this big city and now Blaine was by himself.

So here Blaine was sitting on the side of a road in New York. What had his life come to? Blaine slowly looked around and realised he didn't even know the name of the street. He had lived here for five years and he didn't even know where he was. He got up and looked around. There was a street to his far right that he recognized. He picked up his small back pack and his guitar and headed to the other street. When he was at the end of the street he stopped and let the view soak in. Yes he defiantly recognised this place. It had that nice little café that sold good coffee. Blaine felt around in his warn out jean pocket and found a five dollar bill that he didn't know he had.

_Must have been some generous person who gave me_ _this_ Blaine thought to himself. Blaine never had much money he didn't have a job. The only way he got money was from playing his guitar and singing on the street, hoping that generous passers-by would take pity on him and give him a dollar.

He looked at the five dollars clasped in his hand. He would normally save his money. But the wind was starting to pick up and he really wanted to go inside. So he walked up to the small café and roughly pushed the heavy door open.

He stood in the door way for a minuet looking around. There was a small queue of customers by the counter. The tables that were scattered around the room looked clean and stylish.

Blaine felt out of place in this shiny café. He was wearing black worn out jeans, a plain white shirt and a blood red jacket. He didn't own that many clothes. He had a few outfits that he had taken with him when he came to New York but he mostly just stayed in the clothes he was wearing now. Most of the other people here were wearing suites or designer clothes. He felt out of place but then again he usually did wherever he went.

He shuffled in and walked up to join the queue. The man in front of Blaine was wearing a grey suit much like the rest of the people in the queue except the suit had a slight sheen to it making it almost shine in the sun light. It looked expensive and fashionable. The man looked like he should be on a runway in Paris. His hair was perfectly styled, unlike Blaine's messy curls. Blaine hated his hair when he was younger he would smother it in gel. The man walked up to the counter and ordered his coffee and Blaine couldn't help but stair at his golden brown hair some more, it seemed so familiar.

The man grabbed his coffee only to drop it when he turned round and looked at Blaine.

"Blaine?" The man asked in surprise not even noticing that his suit had been ruined by the coffee he had spilt on it.


	2. Chapter 2

Blaine stood there rooted to the ground unable to move. He stared at the man shocked. _ How does he know my name? _Blaine wondered.

"Blaine, it's you" The man spoke again. This time with a huge grin on his face.

Blaine looked at him in confusion. He recognised him but couldn't remember where from. Blaine had met a lot of people while he had been in New York but none of them would have the money to afford that suit.

"Who are you?" Blaine asked after he realised he had been silent for too long.

The man's face dropped and he frowned his brow. He looked hurt and confused. Blaine felt guilty, he was meant to know who this man was yet he couldn't even remember where he had seen him before.

"It's Kurt. Don't you remember me?" the man said in a small voice.

Suddenly every memory Blaine had been trying to forget was flooding back into his mind_. This is Kurt Hummel your best friend. The only person you ever regretted leaving. Probably the only person who even noticed you had gone. The only person you missed. _No Blaine didn't miss anyone, he had told himself that on the plane leaving Ohio.

"Kurt" Blaine said a little dazed still not knowing quite what was going on. _ Why was Kurt here in New York?_

"I can't believe it. I found you. I thought I would never see you again. Where have you been?" Kurt asked in a hurry as he pulled Blaine into a tight hug.

Blaine fell into the hug and all his child hood memories came with it. His childhood memories that he had tried so hard to forget, that he had moved half way across the country to get away from.

Blaine pulled away quickly and the intense felling that had come with the hug drifted away.

"What are you doing here?" Blaine asked ignoring Kurt's previous question.

"I live here silly." Kurt said giving a small smile and gingerly stepping out of the puddle of coffee. "Come on lets go sit down" Kurt said gesturing to a table in the corner. Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand before he had time to protest and dragged him to the small table. "Wait here I'll go get us some more coffee." Kurt said in a calm tone. And he went to join the queue.

Blaine watched as Kurt walked up and order there coffees. Just looking at him made Blaine remember everything he left back in Lima. Blaine had left everything that night that he ran away. He had wanted to leave it all behind. All the bullies, the school work, Rachel Berry and her not so witty comments, His family and the demands for him to do well, his brother and his need to always put him down and always making him look bad. He had never wanted to leave Kurt though.

Blaine and Kurt had been best friends since they were 10. They had grown up loving the same things; music, Art and fashion. Though Kurt was the more fashionable of the two. They went to McKinley high together, they joined glee club together, they would do everything together. When Kurt had come out as gay Blaine shortly followed and their friendship grew stronger. They were inseparable, the best of friends.

When Blaine started to get bullied because of his height Kurt would always be there to defend him and wash the slushy out of his hair. The bullies are what did it, what made Blaine's life unbearable. He could block out his brothers snide remarks and his parents complaints. He could 'forget' to do his homework and he could talk to Kurt to avoid Rachel. But the Jocks were everywhere. Round every corner with a slushy in hand or an arm out ready to push him into a locker. He couldn't avoid them, he couldn't ignore them either. So he ran from them. Ran away from everyone. Ran away from his life. Living in New York was hard but it was never as hard as the life he lived in Lima.

Kurt returned to the small table with two coffees. "One medium drip for you" Kurt said in a cheerful tone as he passed Blaine his coffee.

"You remembered my coffee order?" Blaine asked in surprise.

"Of course I did what sort of friend would forget that? Anyway how have you been?" Kurt asked.

"Um good thanks. But when did you move here?" Blaine asked still wondering why the hell Kurt was here.

"I moved to New York last year. I got a job as editorial assistant at Vogue. I couldn't believe it I was only out of collage a few months and they practically begged me to take the job."

"Good" was all Blaine said._ Well that explains the suit _Blaine thought.

"So what have you been doing with yourself? I bet you're the lead in some big time show on Broadway you always did have a beautiful voice." Kurt said happily.

He looked so excited, Blaine couldn't tell him he hadn't had a job the whole time he had been in New York. Kurt had always told Blaine he could go far with a music career. It was one of the reasons Blaine had moved to New York, in hope of getting a role in a musical and becoming big. So he lied. "Yeah I'm in..." _What musicals is there Blaine think. _Blaine hadn't seen a musical since he was seventeen. Wait there was one he remembered Rachel talking about, she said she that the part was made for her but there was defiantly a male lead as well, he remembered Finns face when Rachel told him he could star alongside her. _What was it called?_ Blaine thought. "Phantom of the opera" Blaine said a little too enthusiastically.

"Really I thought that finished two years ago? "Kurt said curiously.

"Um..." _Shit Rachel had said she would star in the last performance_ Blaine thought "I'm in the new version" Blaine said hastily

"There's a new version? I haven't heard of that. I used to love Phantom of the opera." Kurt said excitedly.

Blaine nodded in acknowledgement and took a sip of his coffee.

"So who do you play in phantom?" Kurt asked.

_Shit I don't know any of the characters names_ Blaine thought. He had left all his musical knowledge back in Ohio. "Um… I play the lead" Blaine said in an unconvincing voice.

"So you play the Phantom? Unless it's a drag version of Course. You always did look good in tight pants." Kurt said a small smile coming onto his face.

"Yeah I play the Phantom" Blaine replied sounding a little more convincing.

"Maybe I could talk to my boss see if we can do an article about the musical. I could get you some coverage" Kurt said excitedly.

"No, no it's fine, really." Blaine said in a panicked voice. What If Kurt found out about him? He would be so disappointed, so hurt that Blaine had lied to him. "I should be going, It was great seeing you" Blaine said in a rush as he stood up, grabbing his coffee.

"Wait, Blaine you can't just leave I haven't seen you five years you can't just shake me off." Kurt said in a panic.

"I'm sorry I really have to go. I'm going to be late for...for rehearsals"

"Wait, at least give me your number" Kurt said in a hurry

"I can't I...I lost my phone" This wasn't actually a lie. Blaine had lost his phone the first night he had stayed on the streets. He suspected someone had stolen it rather than himself actually losing it but still he didn't have a phone.

"Well take my number then. Call me. Please Blaine I missed you so much in high school after you left."

Blaine looked into Kurt's eyes. He could see the pain in them, the pain that was there because of Blaine. "Fine" Blaine said just loud enough for Kurt to hear. Blaine reached out and took the small card from Kurt, barely glancing at it before he stuffed it into his pocket. Blaine then turned around and walked towards the door not bothering to look back.

"Bye" Kurt said in a raised voice. Blaine ignored the Farwell and carried on towards the door. When Blaine was back out in the cool wind he quickly walked off towards the nearest subway entrance. He quickly ran down the steps. When he reached the bottom he looked around. There was no one else here. Blaine walked over to the deserted bench and sat down. He pulled the card Kurt had given him out of his pocket. He stared at it for a moment, thinking about how far Kurt had gone with his life. It was Kurt's business card and had the Vogue loge in the top right corner. Kurt always loved fashion. Along with Broadway, working for Vogue was one of his lifelong dreams. How had Blaine remembered that he had spent years trying to forget his old life and just seeing Kurt for five minutes had brought all that back.

Blaine looked at the card again. It looked sleek and professional just like Kurt. Blaine could feel the tears build up in his eyes. He hadn't cried for five years. He felt guilty and useless. How was it fair that Kurt could have such a good life and Blaine have nothing. He scrunched his hand into a tight ball crushing the card. Blaine leaned over the bench and through the scrunched up paper into the bin. Hoping that all the bad feelings inside of him would go with it.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt stayed in the café after Blaine left. He sat there hands wrapped around his warm coffee. He hadn't seen Blaine for five years, he never thought he would again. It had taken Kurt a long time to get over the loss of his friend. He hadn't known where he went, he left no note. For all Kurt knew he could be dead in a ditch somewhere. He was pleased to see Blaine again, sure, but couldn't help but feel angry towards him. Why couldn't he have just left a note, told someone where he was going. He had left without a trace and Kurt had been worried.

By the time Kurt rose from his seat his untouched coffee had gone cold. Kurt didn't care, he chucked the paper cup into the trash on the way out. When he pushed open the heavy door of the coffee shop, he felt to cool wind sting his face. He let out a shaky breath. Why had seeing Blaine all of a sudden made him feel so uncomfortable? Kurt had no idea what he was meant to be doing. He looked around in hope of seeing something to jog his memory. Nothing. So instead Kurt slowly walked back to his apartment.

When he got back he took of his jacket and loosened his tie. He hadn't even been to the office that day yet he still felt like he was carrying the world on his shoulders. He really should go and see his boss but decided instead to call in sick and sort it all out tomorrow. Kurt still couldn't get the picture of Blaine's thin face out of his mind. He looked so ill, like a ghost. He supposed it was for his job after all the phantom isn't meant to have seen day light for years. That reminded him he should Google Blaine's show. If Blaine wasn't getting out of his head any time soon it would be fun to see his show.

Kurt sat on his couch, pulling his laptop onto him and starting it up. When it had loaded he opened up a new browser and typed in 'The Phantom of the opera New York'. The only thing that came up was reviews from years ago and a few pictures of the old set. Where was Blaine, where was his show. Kurt decided to try again but this time adding a 'new' at the beginning of the sentence. Only a few new articles came up and a couple of videos of college students performing Music of the night. _Where was Blaine?_ Kurt thought again.

Why was Kurt even bothering with this Blaine shouldn't mean anything to Kurt any more. He shouldn't be spending hours trolling the internet looking for something that might not even exist. Maybe Blaine was lying to him. But why? Why would Blaine want to lie to him, sure they weren't close to each other anymore but surely Blaine wouldn't lie to him. Blaine was a terrible liar he always was. Kurt remembered when he had lent Blaine one of his shirts. Blaine had given it back to him with a small orange stain on. He had instead that cooper had stolen the top and put tomato sauce on it just to spite Kurt. Kurt had seen straight though Blaine's lie. He knew for a fact that it was the only shirt that Kurt owned that Cooper actually liked. Kurt had told Blaine that it was all right and he didn't mind. Blaine had said he was sorry and wouldn't lie to Kurt again. What had changed?

...

Blaine had been sitting there watching the trains go by for the best part of an hour. People had come and gone. Some of them had given him pitying looks some even giving him a few dollars. Where as some just looked like he was another piece of dirt on the street. Blaine had gotten used to these looks a long time ago but he still felt a little humiliated in his worn out jeans and his stubble that grew on his chin. He sat there watching families, students, groups of friends get on different trains all travelling to a new place in their lives. Blaine had nowhere to go, no home to go to, no family to see. He had never felt this alone before, never felt this depressed. What had Kurt done to him?

Blaine got up and trudged up the stone steps away from the subway, away from happy people and onto the busy roads of New York where he could get swept up in the busy rush of people. Where he didn't have to think about where he was going, he would just walk and let the crowd take him somewhere.

He stopped in front of a low bridge. He didn't know how far he had walked. Miles probably considering he started in the city centre and was now near Alphabet city. He didn't know why he had come here. When him and Joel had first been kicked out they looked about renting an apartment here. The apartments here where so cheap they were certain that they would find some place, but they had been too broke to even afford the smallest of flats. When Blaine had been staying around other people on the streets, when he had friends, a few of them had managed to get a small job waitressing or cleaning. They had managed to put a deposit down on one of the smaller apartments.

Blaine didn't know which block or even which street they lived on now. Blaine doubted if he could even remember half of their names. It was always Joel who made the friends, always Joel who got the food. Joel was like a big brother to Blaine. In fact Blaine wished that Joel was his brother rather than cooper.

Cooper had been one of the reasons Blaine had left Ohio. He would always try his best to make Blaine look bad around other people just to make himself look better. He would always be the first person to tell Blaine if he was doing something badly or completely wrong. He would never give Blaine praise. He'd been like this since Blaine could remember. But Blaine didn't want to remember, he wanted to forget.

Blaine moved towards the middle of the street and looked up. The buildings flew up to the sky higher than you would expect a normal block of apartments to be. _I suppose that's why their so cheap they build loads at one time_ Blaine thought to himself. Blaine could see one balcony which had some suspicious looking red stuff dripping down onto the one below_. People get killed in their own_ _apartments _Blain thought in shock. _I'm glad I didn't live here in the end._ And with that Blaine turned on his heal and headed back to the city, where he belonged.

...

It had been two weeks since Kurt had seen Blaine. Kurt had woken up, gone to work, come home just like usual. Everything was normal except that Kurt found himself checking his phone every few minutes just to check that Blaine hadn't called him and he had missed it. Kurt hadn't heard from Blaine since he saw him last. He was getting worried. Blaine had said he would ring him. Yes he said that he lost his phone but surely he would have gotten a new one by now. Why hadn't Blaine called, when they were young Blaine would never be late for anything. Maybe he had forgotten or work could have been tying him down.

Every time his phone buzzed he was way too surprised, always hoping it was Blaine even though the voice inside of him told him to stop getting his hopes up and forget about him. _You lasted five years without him you can cope now. You survived the last time he ran off you can get over it this time as well. _Kurt told himself every time he thought about the subject.

...

Blaine was sat squashed up against a wall. He was underneath a bridge sheltered from the wind. His arms were wrapped around his knees protectively. His red jacket creased and his stubble was turning more into a beard by the day.

Blaine had managed to last two weeks without feeling or even thinking about Kurt. But now the guilt was starting to sink in. He had told him that he would call. Kurt must be worried. You can't watch your best friend run off twice and not feel like they're running away from you. Blaine felt bad, he wished he had never thrown away the card. His wished he had kept it. He could of called Kurt once, tell him what was really going on with his life and then hang up and he would never have to speak to him again.

Blaine was just about to lie down by the wall to take a nap when a he spotted someone in the distance. There wasn't normally many people round here. It was just outside the city centre. The odd tourist who got lost would come down here trying to find their way back to hotels. That's why Blaine liked it round here. He was quite sure there were the smelly bins from the offices, but he would go under the bridge far enough away not to be able to smell them.

So Blaine was surprised when he saw someone walking his way. He couldn't see who but they looked out of place. When they got closer they grew more familiar. Blaine knew this person.

"Hi" The young man said, as he approached Blaine.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine stared at the men in surprise.

"Hi" He replied "What are you doing here I-I thought you had left?"

"I would always come back to see my boy" Joel said with a huge grin on his face.

Joel reached down and offered a hand to pull Blaine up. Blaine took the hand and the two boys pulled each other into a manly hug. They pulled away and gave each other a fist bump.

"So where have you been? I thought you were locked up?"

"Yeah I was but it was only breaking and entering so I didn't have long inside. Then they let me out early for good behaviour."

"I'm so glad your back, life hasn't been as good with you not around. I still haven't found a job and it was always you who got the food and stuff, and I never really learned how to do that so…"

"Wait so your telling me you been living on the streets by yourself and haven't eaten properly since I left?"

"Well not exactly I got some money from busking on the streets and I've been staying out of the city when I sleep so I'm not going to get hurt." Blaine said a little nervously.

Blaine looked at the young man in front of him. He looked so healthy and happy, obviously they fed you well in prison. His curly, Blondish hair had grown since last time Blaine had saw him and now hung around his shoulders. It was messy as usual. He had some stubble growing above his upper lip and round his jaw, showing off his pointed chin and bored jaw line. His bright blue eyes looked out of place on his slightly dirty looking tanned skin. In his right ear he had a small hoop earring in that Blaine could never remember him having.

"I'm sorry I got caught stealing, Blaine, I know I was the only person you had round here."

"What- oh um yeah it wasn't as easy without you but I got by" Blaine said in a hurry after realising he had been staring at Joel a little too long. "So where are you staying now you're out?"

"Well that's why I came to find you. I'm staying with a friend and I thought you might like to stay with us."

"Yeah that would be great" Blaine replied with a huge grin growing on his face. He was finally going to get off the streets. "Wait, how did you find me?" Blaine asked confused.

"Oh, well I looked around the city a bit and on all the park benches. Then I remembered I showed you this place once so I came back and there you were."

"I'm glad you found me. I missed you."

"I missed you to buddy".

Blaine smiled him and gave him another hug.

"So where does this friend of yours live?"

"Oh, not far. Come on I'll show you."

Joel stared to walk away and Blaine followed. They left the bridge and moved towards the city centre. Blaine wondered where they would be staying. Who they would be staying with?

...

Kurt had accepted the fact that Blaine wasn't going to call. It still made him angry that Blaine had run away from him again.

He had tried not to let Blaine distract him. He had busied himself with more work and even putting himself though coffee with Rachel every day before work. It worked but whenever he was alone his thoughts always travelled back to Blaine and there was nothing he could do about it. Kurt missed Blaine and he didn't even know why.

Joel stopped outside of a tall brick building. It looked old and run down like someone had maybe set fire to it once. Joel walked towards a small door at the side and

...

pulled out a key. Looking around sheepishly he quickly unlocked the door and took a step inside. He held the door and gestured for Blaine to come. Blaine walked in the building and Joel quickly shut the door behind him.

Blaine looked around not really sure what to expect. There was a big staircase with a fancy looking banister. The walls were a dark green shade and looked like they hadn't been painted centauries ago.

"Come on were on the 4th floor" Joel wisped.

Blaine wondered what was with the hushed voices and the creeping around but didn't question it. Instead he followed Joel up the flights of stairs until they reached the 4th floor.

They stopped outside of a red wooden door which had the number 42 on it. Joel knocked on it three times and then stood back waiting for an answer.

"Who is it" Came a voice from behind the door.

"It's Joel and I have Blaine with me."

The door opened to reveal a young man in his 20s, standing there in his boxers. He had dark skin and had a menacing look on his face.

"Blaine this is Benjamin, Benjamin this is Blaine." Joel said in a cheery voice

"Nice to meet you Blaine" said Benjamin as he stuck out a hand for Blaine to shake.

Blaine accepted the greeting. Giving his hand a firm squeeze. "Nice you meet you too"

"Well I hope you two get on very well."

"I'm sure we will. Sorry about the lack of clothes Blaine. I was asleep and Joel didn't tell me what time he would be back. But anyway come on in you look cold out there" Benjamin stood back a bit to allow space to let the others in.

When the boys were inside Benjamin stuck his head out, looked both ways and shut the door quickly.

"Welcome to home sweet home" Joel said in a cheesy high pitched voice. "Well I'm not too sure about sweet or about it being much of a home but it's a roof over our heads I guess"

"It's great" Blaine replied. He wasn't even lying, sure his house back in Ohio was way better than some stinky old flat but after living on the streets for so long even a cardboard box would seem comforting.

"Well I'm glad you like it" Joel said cheerfully. "I'll show you to your room"

"Wow I get my own room?" Blaine asked in surprise.

"Well not exactly. You'll share my room if that's ok. I have a spare bed and everything."

"Oh yeah that's fine by me."

"Great, follow me." Joel said as he started to walk towards an old brown door. Joel grabbed a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He then put a hand round the handle and twisted it until the door flung open.

"Your beds over there" Joel said pointing to a small bed by the window. It had a light brown, wooden head board and a white cotton duvet cover on top. It reminded Blaine of a similar bed he had had when he was younger.

"Ok so no boyfriends allowed in here unless you tell me first ok?" Joel said in a stern voice.

"God, you sound like my farther, but the boyfriend thing won't really be a problem I don't think."

"Not found that special someone yet?" Joel teased.

"No I just don't really want a boyfriend that's all."

"You're not turning straight on me Anderson, are you?" Joel said in mock disgust.

"No, No I'm just as gay as ever don't worry. It's just I think it would be hard to ever explain to a guy why I had lived on the streets for so long. They would never understand why I left my family."

"Well girls don't think I'm a tramp or anything for living on the streets. Anyway you don't have to tell them just say you lived here ever since you moved to New York."

"I suppose so, just I don't really like the idea of lying to someone."

"I see your point. I'm sure you'll find someone who will understand and when you do I'll let you have the bedroom for as long as you want." Joel said with a huge grin on his face.

"Well I appreciate your offer but I've never been with anyone like that and I don't think I will anytime soon."

"Hey, I'm sure everything's gonna be ok. Any way I'll let you unpack and settle in."

"Well I don't have that much to unpack but thanks." Blaine said as Joel turned on his heal and opened the door.

Blaine went and sat on his small bed. He looked around the room. It wasn't very big it just had space for the two single beds that were in it. There was no wardrobe, no vanity table. No furniture apart from the beds. The room was simple it had peach coloured paint on the walls and had a simple shutter blind over the window.

Blaine pulled up his rucksack and his guitar which he had put on the floor. He looked around the room for a suitable place to leave his guitar. He didn't want him or Joel to trip over it and he didn't want it to get damaged in any way. He spotted a little space in the corner in the gap between the two beds. He climbed to the end of his bed and slid the guitar into the tight space. It fitted perfectly. Blaine hoped he would never loose or break his guitar it was the only thing he had of any value, the only thing he had left to remember his family, not that he wanted to much.

Blaine climbed back to the head of his bed. He picked up the soft pillow that lay there and hugged it close to his chest. Wishing he had someone to hold right now. He wished he had someone to love him. Had Joel been right about finding the right person someday? Blaine Hoped he was.

After sitting like that for a few minutes Blaine finally decided that it was time to move and go and introduce himself properly to Benjamin. He moved over to the door. He could hear shouting coming from outside. Blaine stood there listening. It wasn't Joel's voice he could hear. But Benjamin was arguing with someone and Blaine didn't know who. The men sounded angry. He tried to hear what they were arguing about but before he had a chance to put his ear against the wood he hear the loud bang of the front door.

Blaine was in shock. Who would come to their apartment and just start shouting. He pulled the door open and walked out to find Joel. He found him and Benjamin hovering by the door looking nervous.

"What's wrong? Who was that at the door" Blaine asked in a hurry.

"What, oh, No one important" Joel said in a shaky voice. Joel walked towards Blaine grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the living room. "Look Blaine, If you ever open the door to someone you don't know, don't talk to them, don't tell them we live here. Just shut the door and tell one of us ok?"

"Ok, but why?"

"Just do as I say and you won't need to know why. Just try and stay out of trouble ok?"

"Don't treat me like a child Joel. I'm only two years younger than you. Just tell me what's going on and who was that man at the door?"

"Blaine none of this concerns you. Just stay out of it and you'll be fine."

"But Jo-"

"No, no more questions. It took a lot of convincing Benjamin to let you stay here and if you're going to try and interfere then you can go back to you home under the bridge." Joel almost shouted.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise you did so much to get me here. If it's going to be annoying, me staying here then I'll go back."

"No, no I didn't mean that you should go. I want you to stay here. I worry about you on your own. You're not really much safer here but at least I can keep an eye on you."

"What do you mean I'm not safer here? Joel is there something you're not telling me?" Blaine said in a panic.

"No more questions ok, just live here haply while you can." Joel said giving Blaine a weak smile. "come on I'll make you some dinner, I bet your hungry."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the favourites and reviews it means a lot. This chapter is from Kurt's point of view I hope you like it. **

Kurt was sitting down at a small round table, coffee in hand, listing to Rachel Berry ramble on about some random musical she was auditioning for. He wasn't really paying much attention, he never really did when it was Rachel talking. He had agreed to come for coffee with Rachel every day before work in hope that it would take his mind off Blaine. It had worked but Kurt really wished Rachel would talk about something else other than herself. Kurt thought she would have changed after high school but no such luck.

Kurt hadn't told Rachel about seeing Blaine again. He knew she would over react, just like she always did. When Blaine left five years ago Rachel had acted like it was the end of the world. Sure, Blaine was a great addition to New Directions and they needed him for sectionals but Rachel had barely ever talked to Blaine. So Kurt didn't really get why she acted like her best friend had died when he ran off.

If Rachel had found out Blaine was in New York she would probably hunt him down and kill him for leaving. But Kurt really had to tell someone. It was hard for Kurt to keep secrets and when anything to do with high school came up Kurt found it almost imposable not to mention Blaine. Kurt had kept quiet but he didn't know how much longer he could.

"So how's work? Kurt? KURT?" Rachel shouted, getting everyone in the coffee shops attention.

Kurt shook his head, realising Rachel was asking him a question and he should listen to her.

"Um. Yeah. It's really good thanks. I'm going to go watch over a photo shoot today so that should be fun." Kurt trailed off not really knowing what else to say. "Um. How's your work?"

Rachel looked offended at the question. "I've been talking about my life and work for the past half an hour and you haven't listened to a single word I said have you?"

"What, No, I-I was listening to you most of the ti-" Kurt got cut off because Rachel had decided to pick up a menu off the table and had started hitting him over the head with it.

"YOU ARE SO RUDE. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I COME FOR COFFE WITH YOU, YOU NEVER LISTNE TO ME" Now the whole shop was watching the pair.

"Calm down Rachel. Everybody's loo- Oww Rachel get off" Kurt raised a hand in hope of shielding his face from Rachel's whacks.

"Well you deserved it. I spend my time coming here to talk to you and you don't even listen to me. Why do you even come Kurt? Is it just to waste my time? Do you really hate me that much?"

"What. No, I like seeing you. It's just sometimes you can ramble on a bit."

"I do not ramble, you just can't be bothered to listen to me."

"Yeah whatever you say Rachel" Kurt snapped.

Rachel sat down and looked at Kurt for a while. Not saying anything just reading his body language.

"What?" Kurt snapped, noticing that Rachel was staring at him.

"What's wrong Kurt?"

"What do you mean 'what's wrong' I'm fine."

"No you're not. I know you. If we ever fight you never fight back. Whenever I'm talking about musicals you listen. You never used to day dream this much. What happened Kurt?"

"Nothing and if you're going to keep interrogating me I'm leaving." Kurt said standing up.

"No please don't go Kurt. I want to help you. Obviously there's something wrong and I know if you don't talk to me then you're going to keep it bottled up."

"Rachel there's nothing wrong just drop it ok"

"No, Kurt I'm not letting you go until you tell me what's wrong." Rachel said grabbing Kurt's wrist and pulling him down to his chair.

"Rach-"

"No. There's something bugging you and you're going to tell me" Rachel said grabbing Kurt's hand and holding it tight but lovingly.

"Fine, I'll tell you but only if you promise not to go crazy"

"I promise Kurt."

"Well I was getting coffee the other month and well I saw someone." Kurt paused not wanting to go on. He didn't want to spill all his worries and troubles onto Rachel, she had enough of her own.

"Who was it Kurt? Tell me please."

"It, it was Blaine"

"What? Are you sure Kurt? I know you can't think straight before your morning coffee."

"Ugh Rachel! You don't even believe me. I'm sure it was him. Why would I be stressing over this if it wasn't Blaine."

"Ok I'm sorry. I believe you but why are you stressing over him? Surely you would be happy to see him. After all, you haven't seen him for five years."

"I was happy to see him. I was so pleased when I saw him. I missed him so much when he went."

"So what's the problem?"

"I gave him my number. He promised he would call but it's been months and nothing's happened. No call, no texts. What if he got hurt Rachel?" Kurt whined.

"Hey, I'm sure he's fine. He's probably just busy. He will call you soon I'm sure."

"Rachel he's not going to call and if he's busy, then I don't know what with."

"Oh Kurt, I'm sure he just has a lot of work or something." Rachel comforted leaning over to pull Kurt into a hug when she saw the tears building in his eyes.

"He isn't. He said that he was in the new phantom of the opera but there's no such thing and I'm worried. Why would he of to lie to me?"

"I don't know why he would lie to you but I'm sure he had a good reason as to why he didn't tell you the truth."

"He was my best friend Rachel, he shouldn't need to lie to me."

"Oh Kurt don't worry about him. If he hasn't called you, that's his loss. You are worth ten times of him. He was the one who ran away from life not you. Your strong Kurt you can get through this and forget about him, just like you did last time he ran away."

"I know Rachel but I don't want to have to forget about him."

Rachel didn't have a response to that. She thought Kurt would hate Blaine for running away. She thought Kurt would want to get as far away from him as possible and forget all about him. She never thought he would even want to have anything to do with Blaine let alone allow himself to worry about him.

"Rachel what should I do?" Kurt whined griping onto Rachel's shoulder.

"I don't know Kurt. I don't think there's much you can do." Rachel admitted. Never in her life had she not had an answer for something and she didn't like it.

Kurt gave Rachel a defeated look and slowly rose from his chair.

"I should go to work. I've got a photo shoot and I don't want to be late." Kurt mumbled as he wiped his eyes of the unshed tears.

"Yeah, yeah I understand. Look Kurt, if you need anything I'll always be here for you."

"Thanks Rachel"

They gave their goodbyes and Kurt left the coffee shop feeling way worse than when he went in. He was glad he had shared his worries but he couldn't help but think that Rachel would judge him for not wanting to forget Blaine.


	6. Chapter 6

Blaine had been staying with Joel for a few weeks now and his life had been crazy. There were so many people who came to the door always wanting to talk to Joel or Benjamin. Blaine never knew who they were or what they wanted, after his talk with Joel he had not asked. Which doesn't mean to say he didn't want to. But Blaine would keep his word and stay out of trouble.

Blaine woke up one morning, the sun from the small window besides him shining into his eyes. But that wasn't what had awoken him. There was someone shouting at the door. People often came to the door, many of them often shouting, but Blaine recognized this voice. He had been the person who came to see Joel the day Blaine got here. He had been here more than any of the other callers, however Blaine had never actually seen what he looked like. Every time Blaine heard the voice, he would always ponder whether to go and see who it was or not and by the time he made a move the voice had gone.

Blaine wasn't going to let this visit pass. He quietly slid his legs out from under the duvet and let them fall to the floor. He pushed himself up with his arms silently and crept towards the door, he quickly turned the handle and realised it was locked. Blaine looked around the room in search of the key, he spotted it on the bedside table next to Joel's empty bed and leapt forward to grab it. Once he had it he flew back to the door and silently slid it into the key hole and turned it. He let the door fling open and Blaine rushed towards the hall before the voice had time to get away.

Blaine walked quickly towards the front door not wanting to the let this chance to see who the man was slide. He was a few feet away from the door and could see Benjamin standing there getting push around by a tall, beefy man. Blaine stood still rooted to the ground in fear. There was someone behind the beefy man. This man was smaller and looked less fierce but in his left hand he was holding a gun. He wasn't pointing it anywhere but Blaine knew that if Benjamin said something wrong then it could be the end of him.

Blaine stood there not knowing what he should do. He didn't want to get involved with these people. Joel had been right, he should just stay out of trouble. Blaine couldn't just stay there and watch Benjamin get pushed around. Blaine didn't even know if Joel was in the house.

The larger man had now pushed into the apartment and was holding Benjamin up against the wall. Blaine had no idea how no one hadn't seen him yet but Blaine took it to his advantage and ran forwards and grabbed the tall man by his back and pulled him off Benjamin.

Benjamin fell to the floor in a heap, dead to the world. Blaine realised what he had just done when the man turned around and gave him a menacing look. The man lurched forwards and pulled Blaine up by his collar. His feet were barely touching the floor.

"And who are you then little boy?" The man spat.

"I-I'm Blaine"

"Well Blaine, you better wish you didn't do that"

"Well I don't much appreciate watching you hurt my friend" Blaine argued. Finding his confidence to fight back out of no were.

"Well I don't much appreciate you answering me back little boy, so you better shut up." The man shouted, dropping Blaine back to the ground.

"Now where's your friend Joel, I need something from him?"

"I don't know. You're not hurting him though I won't let you." Blaine said, moving so he was blocking the man's entrance to the rest of the house.

"What are you going to do about it kid?"

Blaine realised the smaller man was still standing at the door. He still had his gun but didn't look like he would use it unless he was forced. He looked almost as scared as Blaine felt.

"You can't hurt me little hobbit just look at yourself, so I suggest you move out the way squirt, before I get my friend over here to make you." The man shouted, pointing the smaller man by the door.

Blaine didn't know what to do. He didn't want to let the man in, but he didn't want to take his chances and try and fight with him.

"Hey, Rick come here we need to teach this kid a lesson."

Blaine realised what he meant by lesson but it was to late to change his mind now. He would fight it out, he was good at boxing, he could win this thing.

Rick appeared from behind the beefy man looking timid and scared. His hand shook as he raised his pistol, pointing it at Blaine.

"So it's your choice youngster you can move and let me get my money from your friend, or you can stay here guarding him and get yourself killed."

Blaine looked into Rick's eyes, he didn't look like the killing type but Blaine was never that judgmental of people and he didn't want to take his chances.

"I-I'm not moving." Blaine said. A little voice in the back of his mind was screaming at him to run but Blaine was loyal. Joel had protected him and Blaine would do the same.

"Well, we have a fighter here then Rick."

Rick looked nervous and kept shooting looks in all directions.

"What are you waiting for?" The tall man shouted at Rick.

Rick slowly raised his arms and made his aim.

Blaine looked into the small man's eyes. Silently begging him not to do it. But there's no remorse of the wicked. Blaine mentally prepared himself for his inevitable death. Trying to review his whole life in just the few seconds, he had left.

Blaine tried to remember all the good time that had happened in New York, like when he first moved here and went to see every single musical, or when he had seen the statue of Liberty for the first time.

He remembered all the good things that happened at high school too. Like when New Directions came first at regionals or when he had his first solo.

He remembered the first time he met Kurt and they had become friends. Why was Blaine remembering Kurt now? Blaine didn't know why, but for some reason he wanted his last thoughts to be of Kurt. They had so many special memories together and although Blaine never admitted it, he missed Kurt and regretted not getting to speak to him one last time.

Blaine took one last look at Rick and squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the blow of the gun.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to upload this. I hope you enjoy it :)**

Joel had gotten up early that day after being woken up several times by Blaine's snoring. He didn't mind, he liked getting up before the sun it made the day longer.

He had made himself coffee and left to go for a walk in the park, before people started to make their way to work and it became too busy to enjoy the scenery.

By the time the sun had risen Joel was walking round central park breathing in the morning air. It wasn't very busy at this time. Only a few confused looking students that had probably been there all night, and a few middle aged couples walking their dogs.

He had stayed in the park for a few hours watching the squirrels being chased by dogs and little children run around holding ice-creams. Joel liked to come out, here, when things got too much at home.

When he got out of prison and Benjamin had offered him his spare room, Joel thought he had struck gold. Him and Benjamin had shared a cell and had become quite good friends. Joel had gotten to know Benjamin well and sharing an apartment with him sounded like fun. One thing Joel had never known about Benjamin was why he had got locked up in the first place.

Joel soon found that out when he moved in. People would come to the door 24/7 always looking for Benjamin. Joel had asked Benjamin what everyone wanted with him and why so many people had to see him. Benjamin had been resistant to tell Joel at first. Joel found out anyway.

Joel had been alone in the house when someone had stared banning at the door. He had told Benjamin he would not open the door under any circumstances, but the person at the door wouldn't leave. He had walked up to the door and opened it only to be thrown out the way and pushed up against a wall. There was a tall, muscular man holding Joel, shouting at him, asking him where Benjamin was.

Joel had no idea where Benjamin was so instead he asked the man what he wanted with him.

"He's in a spot of trouble"

Joel didn't know what he meant by this. The two had only gotten out of prison a few weeks ago. He wondered what Benjamin must have done to get himself into trouble already. Joel had asked the man who he was. Turned out Benjamin had been selling drugs to the man, Kenneth, since they had got out of prison. Kenneth had given Benjamin money to get some cocaine and had failed. Now the man was here to get his money back.

That's how Joel had gotten involved in this whole thing. He had tried to stay out of trouble his whole life, but just getting in with the wrong crowd could change everything. Joel had become Benjamin's work mate after that. They would go round selling drugs and making a profit, a big one. He always worried that he had done the wrong thing the day he told Benjamin, Kenneth had come round and that he would help him get out of trouble, but there was no turning back now.

Joel had been worried about getting Blaine to come and stay with him. He didn't want what had happened to him to happen to Blaine. He wanted to protect him and shelter him from the horrors of the streets.

Thinking of Blaine reminded Joel that he should get back to the flat and see if the lazy boy had risen yet.

Joel got up from the cold bench he was sitting at and started to walk in the direction of the main park entrance. The grass was long, and had wild flowers growing in the flower beds, it reminded Joel of summer and carefree days as a kid.

When he had got to his apartment building he started to head up the stairs to his apartment. When he entered the landing of his floor he could hear shouting, which wasn't unusual at all. He turned the corner towards his apartment, digging around in his pockets for his keys, only to drop them when he saw, he didn't need them as his door was already flung open.

….

Blaine's eyes were closed waiting for the sound of the gun to fill his ears. Instead of hearing a gun though, he heard a voice, a familiar voice. Blaine allowed his eyes to open a crack and to be greeted with the wonderful sight of Joel tackling the strong man to the floor.

Blaine opened his eyes fully just to be sure what he was seeing was real. It was true Joel had come to save him and was now fighting, blood and bones, on the floor. Blaine rushed down to pull the big man off of Joel while Rick ran out of the door, not even shooting a look behind him.

Joel was fighting, trying to knock the guy out and wouldn't let Blaine pull him off. Instead, he shouted for Blaine to "Run".

"NO, no I can't. I can't leave you, what if you get hurt?"

"Go Blaine. I'll be fine. Just go."

Blaine didn't want to go, but there wasn't much he could do for Joel now. Even if he got out of this fight there would be many more to come after this. Blaine liked his quiet life and didn't want to get wrapped up in all this trouble. Although it was too late to save Joel from this mess he could still save himself. So after shouting a goodbye to Joel, Blaine ran into his bedroom. He grabbed his guitar and his small rucksack, gave the room one last look goodbye, heaved the window open, and climbed down the fire escape.

….

After running for what seemed like forever, Blaine finally found himself a safe distance from the apartment. He stopped, seeing where he was, deciding where would be a good place to stay round here. He saw an abandoned looking apartment building and settled himself down by the trash cans outside. He wrapped his arms around himself for warmth, ready for the cold evening to come. Ready for the life on the streets, he thought he had left.

**A/N: I know there hasn't been much of Kurt in the last few chapters but there will be more of him in the next.**


	8. Chapter 8

It had taken Blaine a long time to settle down that night. He couldn't find a way to sit that was comfortable, which wasn't surprising as he was sitting between two trash cans and on top of a few smelly trash bags. His clothes were starting to smell but at least the garbage cans provided protection from the harsh winds.

He never thought he would go back to the streets. He would have stayed with Joel for a bit then gone and gotten a job and eventually bought his own place, but of course good things never last and Blaine had been a fool to think they could.

Its strange how quickly Blaine had got used to a comfy bed, but now all he had was the cold, hard floor outside of an apartment block and a few rats to keep him company.

When he finally did manage to fall asleep, his dreams were filled with strong men pinning him roughly against a wall and knights in shining armour. It was a reflection of his day, the same man, the same place the only thing different was it wasn't Joel who had come and rescued him it was Kurt. He didn't know why Kurt was the one who saved him or why he was even in his dreams as they hadn't seen each other for several months.

Blaine's dreams were sweet and he could have stayed in them forever, unfortunately someone else had decided he couldn't and was now shouting at him and pushing his shoulder.

He turned his head and tried to block out the noise, but the person continued to wake him.

"Blaine" He heard a girl's voice shout.

How did this person know his name? Had he really just dreamt all the stuff about the huge man? Was he still in Joel's apartment? Blaine felt around under him just to make sure he wasn't imagining voices, before he opened his eyes. His hand brushed along a lumpy garbage bag. He was still on the street, just where he had fallen asleep. So who was this person and how did they know his name?

Blaine slowly opened his eyes, not wanting to see who had woken him. His eyelashes had been stuck together with sleep. When he finally opened his eyes he was greeted with the sight of a brunet, skinny girl, who Blaine didn't recognise.

"Blaine" the girl shouted again.

"What? Wh-who are you?" Blaine mumbled.

"Blaine what are you doing here'? Why are you sleeping in my rubbish?"

Blaine sat up and tried to grab his bag out of the girl's hand.

"Blaine stop it, why are you here?"

"Who even are you and how the hell do you know my name?"

"Blaine, it's me, Rachel, are you still asleep or something?" Rachel smiled.

"Rachel? Who… shit, it's you."

"!ell nice to see you again, too." Rachel grumbled. "So, are you going to tell me why you're sleeping in my trash?"

"Shut-up Rachel and just leave me alone" Blaine spat.

"Blaine what happened to you? Why aren't you at home and why didn't you call Kurt?"

_Shit, she had spoken to Kurt _Blaine thought.

"You have to promise me you won't tell Kurt you saw me" Blaine said, standing up and brushing his jacket down.

"What? Why shouldn't I tell Kurt, What's it to you? You didn't even call him."

"Please Rachel, for once in your life can you try not being selfish."

"You think I'm being selfish? Kurt has been worried sick about you, if I tell him I saw you then maybe he could forget about you."

"Wait. Kurt wants to forget about me?"

"Only because you ran away and never called him. He's annoyed, Blaine." Rachel stared at Blaine with sad eyes. She watched Blaine take in the information, watched him turn from angry to lost and confused. "You never told me why you were sleeping in my trash."

Blaine rubbed his face trying to get Kurt out of his mind. "It-it's because I have nowhere else, ok? I didn't know you lived here, honest."

"What do you mean you don't have anywhere else? What happened to your job and apartment?"

"I never had one"

"What do you mean you didn't have one? Any way don't you have any friends you could stay with instead of outside my apartment?"

"I was staying with a friend, but I had to get out of there."

"What? Surely staying with your friend would have been better than here."

"Not when you nearly get killed, it isn't" He mumbled.

"You nearly got killed? What happened is your friend a lunatic or something?" Rachel shrieked.

"No it wasn't my friend who tried to kill me, Joel would never have done that. No my friend got mixed up in drugs and stuff and it all just turned nasty. I'm ok now through, so you can just forget you ever saw me."

"No Blaine, I should tell Kur-"

"No" Blaine cut in. "you can't tell him, please. It would kill him to know I was living on the streets."

"You can't expect me to keep my mouth shut, you knew me for three years Blaine, if there's one thing you should have learnt about me, it's that I can never keep a secret." Rachel teased.

If there was one thing Blaine learnt about Rachel it was that she was the known school gossip and she would do anything to find out other peoples gossip and spread it around.

'I'll make you a deal. If you let me get you something to eat, then I won't tell Kurt I saw you."

Blaine stared at her in horror. Rachel was actually being nice, she was actually doing something that wasn't for herself.

"So what do you think? Sound like a fair deal?"

"Yeah, if it's the only way to get you not to tell Kurt."

Rachel beamed at Blaine and stood back and began to walk to her apartment. Blaine grabbed his guitar, slung his bag over his shoulder and followed her inside.

…

Rachel and Kurt had agreed to keep seeing each other before work everyday, even though neither of them enjoyed it that much. It was a chance for Kurt to get all the worry of his chest and for Rachel to learn what being a good friend really meant.

Normally Kurt would tell Rachel all about his day, his life and his work and Rachel would listen and give him some of her, not so helpful, knowledge. But today was different, Rachel actually had something useful to say. The only trouble was, Kurt had decided to go on one of his long rambles, and nothing would distract him from one of them.

"-And then she said she didn't like the dress. I mean I know she's a fashion icon and everything but our stylists have way better taste than her. I mean who does she think she is?"

"I don't know. Kurt can I ask you so-."

"And then she said our stylist should be sacked. Our stylist is one of the best in the country and she said he should be sacked. She only got this fashion shoot because she had another child and now she's demanding everything.

"Kurt I don't want to hear the ins and outs of your Victoria Beckham photo shoot."

"And now I think my boss is going to make me assistant director of the shoot, which would be a great opportunity for me, but you know what that will mean? I'll have to look after her and she's the biggest pain on this planet." Kurt rambled, ignoring Rachel's interruption.

"Kurt there's something I have to tell yo-."

"Rachel I'm trying to tell you something will you stop interrupting."

"But Kurt I have to tell you som-."

"Anyway I really don't what to have to be her personal assistant for a day, can you imagine it? Looking after her and doing everything she says. It would be torture. God I hate the Beckham's. Do you know tha-"

"KURT shut up for one minute, please."

"What? Rachel I was trying to tell yo-."

"No Kurt. You only ever talk about yourself and you won't even listen to me."

"Rachel, I'm sorry I'll shut up and you can tell me what you had to say."

"No Kurt, you can't just decide when you want me to speak. I'm going."

"No, Rachel I'm sorry. Please don't go."

"It's too late Kurt. Bye."

With that Rachel stood up and stormed out of the coffee shop, slamming the door on the way out.

Kurt sat there, too mad at himself to even move. What had Rachel wanted to tell him, what was so important to her?

Kurt was annoyed at himself for not letting her speak but decided to not worry about it too much. After all, it was probably just Rachel being dramatic.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update, I hope you like it though also Kurt's in this chapter!**

It had been two days since Kurt had seen Rachel. Their friendship was crushed. Kurt had called Rachel, tried to talk her round, apologized to her but she wouldn't listen to him, just hung up every time. They hadn't been for coffee since they fought and Kurt didn't have anyone to speak to, he felt alone and stressed. He never realised how much he actually enjoyed Rachel's company until it was gone.

But it was too late to think about that now. Sure he didn't have any other friends in the city, but he would just have to make some. Right now all Kurt should be thinking about was getting to work as he was very late.

He was rushing down a side ally when he heard it. There weren't many people who knew about this short cut and Kurt never saw anyone else when he went down here. But today was different, there was someone singing and softly strumming on a guitar. It was the first proper music he had heard in months. The voice was beautiful, soft but strong, somehow familiar. Kurt turned the corner of the ally and saw the person singing. He had black messy hair and thick stubble. He wore a dirty red jacket. For a moment Kurt didn't recognise the boy, but as he moved closer, pulling a dollar out of his jacket pocket, he could see under all the grime and stubble was Blaine. Kurt stood in front of the boy and dropped his money into the empty guitar case.

"Hi" Kurt said, giving Blaine a small smile.

Blaine looked up from his guitar, his body tense. His eyes flashed with confusion then relaxed when he realised it was Kurt.

"Hi" Replied Blaine, a smile growing on his face.

"Why exactly are you sitting in a deserted ally way singing?"

The smile disappeared on Blaine's face when he heard Kurt's question. Why was it that whenever anyone saw Blaine that was always there first question?

"Can we not start our meeting with a question, please Kurt, it's been ages since I've seen you and I don't know why, but I really missed you." Blaine sighed.

"I wonder whose fault it is that we haven't spoken." Kurt asked, raising his perfect eyebrow and squatting down besides Blaine.

"I'm sorry, Kurt, I wanted to but I had already thrown away your number." Blaine whispered, ducking his head away from Kurt.

"Hey Blaine, look at me. Yeah, sure I'm annoyed that you didn't call, but that's in the past now. Let's just be friends again and not have you run away from me."

"You shouldn't sit there you know, I'm pretty sure people pee there." Blaine said gesturing to the place Kurt was sitting.

"Well I suppose you would know." Kurt joked.

Blaine gave a small simile and bowed his head away from Kurt again.

"Blaine, how do you know that people pee here?"

Blaine didn't reply, just ignored Kurt's question.

"Blaine. Blaine, look at me please. Blaine, are you ok?"

"Can't you just shut up for one minuet?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you."

"Don't be worried about me, worry about yourself. I'm not worth your breath."

"Blaine, you're always worth my time." Kurt said scooting closer to Blaine and facing him.

Blaine didn't replay, just gave Kurt a heart broken look. They sat there looking into each other's eyes, remembering all those years ago when they were best friends and could tell each other anything. Where had those years gone?

"Kurt I have to tell you something." Blaine whispered, turning his face away from Kurt's.

"What is it?" Kurt worried.

"I haven't been completely honest, I mean, like, I haven't lied really, well actually I kinnda did bu-"

"Blaine spit it out and stop rambling."

"I'm sorry. Anyway well you know when I said I was in Phantom of the opera?"

"Yeah, and you weren't actually in it?"

"Wait, What? How do you know I wasn't in it? Who told you? Was it Rachel?"

"What no I'm not stupid Blaine, I Googled it and found out it wasn't real, it doesn't take a genius to do that. But anyway what's this thing about Rachel? Have you seen her or something?"

"Um yeah I saw Rachel the other week, well she sort of found me really, but you weren't supposed to know about it, she promised she wouldn't tell you."

"How did she FIND you Blaine?"

"Ahh, well that's sort of the bit where I lied to you." Blaine mumbled, giving Kurt a sheepish look. "I was sleeping outside of her apartment and she found me when she was putting out her rubbish." Blaine looked at Kurt waiting for the things he had said to sink in and for Kurt to give his answer. "Well?" Blaine prompted, after Kurt had been quiet for so long.

"I… Wha- how? Blaine why were you outside Rachel's apartment? Why weren't you at home?" As soon as Kurt had asked the question he already knew the answer. "Blaine are you living on the streets?" Kurt whispered, not wanting his thoughts to be true.

Blaine didn't look up, just simply nodded. He could hear the gasp and feel the arms fall tightly around him, but they didn't mean anything anymore. Blaine had failed in life, and now he had to take the humiliation of telling people and being judged.

"Blaine, why didn't you just tell me? I would have understood."

"I don't know, I thought maybe you would think me a failure or pathetic."

"Blaine I would never think that of you. I know we didn't see each other for five years but I still love you and want to be your friend no matter what."

"You really mean that?"

"Of course I do, we were so close in high school, we knew each other so well, you can't just get rid of that."

Blaine stayed silent, not knowing quite what to say. He could feel the tears threatening to spill, no one had been that nice to him for years. Now were the times that he really regretted leaving Kurt and leaving home.

"Come with me, we can go get some coffee and talk about this in the warm."

Kurt stood up and held out his hand to pull Blaine up. Blaine stood up, pulling his bag onto his back, picking up his guitar and following Kurt off towards the café.

They walked to the coffee shop where Blaine had first seen Kurt in New York. Kurt ordered the drinks while Blaine found a table and sat down. They sat there sipping their coffee waiting for someone to speak first.

"Blaine?" asked Kurt, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"You know how you don't have anywhere to stay?" Kurt almost whispered.

"Yes, I'm aware that I don't have anywhere to sleep apart from the streets, rub it in why don't you." Blaine said, annoyance growing in his voice.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean that, I was just wondering if you would like to come and stay in my apartment for a while."

There was a long pause before Blaine answered. "I don't know Kurt, I couldn't do that to you, I couldn't take up your space like that…"

"Honestly its no trouble, I'm always lonely at home anyway"

"No, I'm fine where I am."

"No you're not, you live on the streets Blaine, It's not fine."

"Just leave it, I've survived five years, I can survive a little longer."

"You've survived, yes, but you haven't lived, you haven't seen how amazing life could be. Come and live with me and get back on your feet and you can really live your life."

"Kurt, I can get a job and do all of that stuff. I don't need your charity to do it."

"It's not charity, it's a friend helping out another friend."

"I don't need your help." They were shouting full out now and had got the whole cafes attention.

"Yes you do Blaine, you're just too scared to admit it."

"I'm not listening to this." Blaine mumbled, standing up and grabbing his bags.

"Blaine. Please don't go, I'm sorry alright I was just trying to help." Kurt whined, grabbing Blaine's hand and trying to pull him back down.

"Well you're not helping, just making me want to be away from you." He said, shaking his hand free from Kurt's grip. "Bye Kurt, have a nice life." He shouted back to Kurt as he walked out of the café.

As he walked out the café, everyone eyes were on him. He didn't care, they could stare all they wanted, he'd already humiliated himself enough in front of Kurt.

He regretted walking out on Kurt again but he couldn't stay, he couldn't let himself be persuaded to go and stay with Kurt. Everything that Blaine got himself into always ended badly and he really didn't want to hurt Kurt. He could never let Kurt get hurt because of him. It would kill him, make him hate life more than he already did.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: yay another chapter, I hope you like it :)**

"You do realise I'm still mad at you right?" Grumbled Rachel as she roughly pulled out a chair at the coffee shop table.

"I think I'm the one who should be mad at you." Kurt mumbled, looking into his hands.

"Wh-What? What gives you the right to be mad, what have I done? Or did you just beg me to come so you could whine at me some more?"

"I don't whine." Kurt defended. "But I do have a reason to be mad at you, a very good one."

"Oh and what's that then?" Rachel asked, a smug look on her face.

"You didn't tell me your saw Blaine."

Rachel's face went blank, a look of worry growing.

"What? How do you know about that?"

"Because I saw him, Rachel, I saw him there looking so defenceless, so depressed and it killed me to see it." Kurt said, a lump growing in his throat, but he wasn't going to let himself cry, not in front of Rachel.

"Well I still don't know why you're mad at me, I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen."

"So that's what you were trying to tell me the other day." Kurt groaned, letting his head fall into his hands.

"Yes and if you would have listened, you would have known."

"Rachel, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I didn't listen. I've hated not talking and I never knew why but now I know and I understand why you were mad at me and now I just feel mad at myself."

"Kurt, don't be mad at yourself, please. I missed talking to you and I shouldn't have walked out on you. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

Kurt stood up and reached over to pull Rachel into a hug.

"So are we friends again?" He whispered.

Rachel didn't reply just gave a small nod against karts shoulder.

Everything was going to be ok. He had Rachel back and now he could talk about how he was going to get Blaine to talk to him.

….

Blaine had run off again, why must he always do that? Why couldn't he just sit down and talk to Kurt like a normal person, instead of getting freaked out and running off. Kurt was never going to talk to him again. Why did he always make the wrong decisions?

If he would have just let Kurt take him home, look after him, his life would have been so much better. But Blaine had valued his pride too much.

So here he was walking down the busy streets of New York City, alone. It was nearly midday and the sun was high in the sky, although there was a cool wind blowing empty plastic bags around the street. He was feeling the cold yet there was no way to get away from it, instead he just carried on walking to shelter.

He walked back to the alleyway he was in earlier that day and settled himself down with his guitar. He laid his empty guitar case down in front of him in the hope that some random stranger would take pity on him. No such luck and by the time the sun went down and evening came, his case was still empty.

But hope was around the corner, literally. He could hear voices mumbling from round the corner of the alleyway. Blaine played his guitar a little louder in the hope that he could get the strangers attention. It was working, the voices where now getting closer and he could tell there was more than one of them, more like a whole gang.

As the group turned the corner Blaine's hopes sank to the pit of his stomach, his face turning white.

This was no stranger, it was the drug dealer who had come for Joel. Blaine quickly ducked his head and moved his legs closer to his body, hoping against hope that the men hadn't seen him.

Too late, Blaine felt a strong hand on his shoulder, lifting him up by the jacket.

"Seen your friend recently?" The bigger man asked.

Blaine lifted his head and gave it a small shake.

"W-why do you ask?"

"Because he ran away from me, just like you did."

Blaine's heart thudded fast. Joel had gotten away, he was safe, but Blaine wasn't.

The stronger man lifted Blaine higher and pinned him against the wall.

"He still owes me, you know and I'm not going to stop till I get it."

"Well why are you coming for me then? I don't know where Joel is."

"Yeah that's right, no one knows where he is, so we came for you instead."

"But I don't have what you want." Blaine stuttered as the man push him harder against the wall.

"Well, we will just have to get rid of you then."

Blaine didn't understand what he meant by get rid him, but he soon did when he felt to strong punch one of the man's friends gave him.

He felt another one, again and again, each one hard and more painful than the last. All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball and protect himself, but he was still being held up against the wall.

Finally, Blaine thought the punches had stopped when he got dropped to the floor. He instantly wrapped his arms around himself, trying to block out the world.

Then he felt all the air knocked out of him as someone kicked him straight in the back.

It was the worst pain Blaine had ever felt. High school felt so tame compared to this and Karofsky seemed tame compared to whoever was kicking him now.

What seemed like hours, went by before the men finally stopped beating him up. They all just stood there round him whispering to each other. Blaine couldn't even move and he prayed that they wouldn't start kicking him again, he just didn't have the strength left in him.

Finally they left, leaving Blaine lying in a heap on the floor. Bruised, battered and bleeding, Blaine had never felt worse in his whole life, he couldn't even sit up. He just lay there drowning in pain, waiting for his knight in shining armour to come and rescue him.


	11. Chapter 11

Kurt was having a troubling day, after seeing Blaine and having coffee, he eventually went to work and had to stay late to make up for extra time. It had been a long and stressful day and all he wanted to do was go home and sleep.

He was making his way home taking the shortcut he had used this morning, not really paying attention to where he was going just letting his feet take him home.

As he was about to turn the corner he heard an animal like groan, wondering what it was he sped up his walking pace. Then he saw the blood that had dried on the floor, and then he heard the moan again. He quickly turned the corner and saw somebody curled up in a ball. The injured man was wearing a red jacket which he couldn't tell if it was red from blood or not.

Kurt quickly ran over to the pained man and pulled his hands away from his face, he let out a gasp when he saw who it was.

"Blaine, Blaine wake up." Kurt shouted, shaking the smaller boy's shoulders.

How had this happened, what had Blaine got himself into? Kurt lifted Blaine up by his shoulders and dragged him into a sitting position against the wall.

"Blaine you need to wake up, please." Kurt begged, crouching down in front of Blaine and looking at his face intently. He had a huge graze on one half of his face and a deep cut on his forehead.

Kurt pulled out his cell phone a dialled 911, asking for an ambulance, then gave his attention back to Blaine.

"Blaine can you hear me?" Kurt asked, still shaking his shoulders.

"Hmm." Blaine mumbled. "Wh- what happened?"

"I don't know, I just found you like this."

"Ku-Kurt? What are you doing here?"

"I found you lying here, what happened?"

Blaine tried to lift himself up but failed a landed in a heap on the floor.

"Blaine, you are no going anywhere, sit back down."

"Kurt leave me alone, I'm fine."

"No you're not, I called an ambulance, it should be here soon."

"What, no, I'm not going to hospital, I'm fine look." Blaine said as he tried to stand up, but his legs turned to jelly once he was finally up.

"Blaine just sit down and wait for the ambulance, please." Whined Kurt, pulling Blaine down so his head was resting on Kurt's shoulders.

They waited there, Kurt keeping Blaine close to him, not even caring about getting blood on his work suit.

When the ambulance arrived the paramedics set about getting Blaine onto a stretcher, while one of them asked Kurt questions about what had happened.

When Blaine was all strapped up they wheeled him into the back and Kurt followed behind.

The whole time they were in the ambulance Blaine would slip in and out of consciousness but one thing didn't change, throughout the whole Journey his grip on Kurt's hand never weakened.

When they got to the hospital there were doctors rushing around, all trying to help him. They took Blaine down a long corridor, off the waiting room, which Kurt wasn't allowed down. So instead he sat himself down on one of the small plastic chairs and waited till they had finished with Blaine.

…..

When Blaine woke up he was greeted with bright sun light in his eyes. He turned his body away from the bright light but instantly regretted it, his body ached all over and every muscle in his body was tight.

One thing had changed, he was lying on a bed. This defiantly wasn't the place he had fallen asleep. He opened his eyes slowly and saw a sleepy looking Kurt sat in the corner, watching him.

"Hey there sleepy head."

"Wh-where am I?"

"You're in hospital."

"What? Why are you here?"

"You got into a fight and I found you a called an ambulance."

As Kurt's words reached his ears the previous night's events flooded his mind, the drug dealers, the punches, the pain, lying there helpless, Kurt coming to his rescue, the ambulance journey, never letting go of Kurt's hands.

"Kurt, thank you."

"Hey, it's fine, it's not like I would have just left you lying there on the street to bleed to death."

"You should have, I've treated you so badly, I don't deserve your kindness. I'm so sorry for everything I've put you through."

"Blaine, I never would have done that to you, I care about you too much."

"You care about me?"

"Of course I do, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Thank you." Blaine whispered.

"You should go back to sleep." Kurt suggested, smoothing Blaine's hair back.

"What, no. I have to get out of here, I hate hospitals."

"Blaine, you can't just go and even if you did where would you go?"

Blaine fell silent, he had no where to go and the longer he stayed here the bigger his bill would be, a bill which he couldn't pay.

"No I have to get out of here now, I can't even afford to pay the bill as it is let alone after a few days."

Blaine tried to sit up, failing, his arms crumbled underneath him and he fell back onto the bed.

"Lay back down." Kurt ordered. "Don't worry about the bill, I've got it covered, also will you please come and stay with me when you get out of here?"

"Kurt, I can't take up your space like that."

"Blaine please, at least in till you recover properly."

"Ok, fine, I'll come and stay with you, but only for a bit." Blaine gave in, too tired to argue.

Blaine settled back onto his bed and relaxed, everything was going to be fine.

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews on here they mean alot to me and make me want to write this even more :)**


	12. Chapter 12

When Blaine woke up for a second time he felt a lot better and could sit up properly. He looked over to Kurt, who was sleeping on a straight back chair in the corner of the room. He looked so beautiful when he slept, even if he did look like he was in an uncomfortable position.

Blaine slid his feet off the bed and padded across the cold floor towards the bathroom. When he came back Kurt was waking up, rubbing his eyes and destroying what was left of his hair style.

"Hi." Blaine greeted, climbing back onto the bed. "Good sleep?"

"Yeah it was ok, the chair wasn't the comfiest though. Are you feeling any better?"

"Well I don't ache as much as I did, but the bruises still hurt."

"Do you want me to get a nurse?"

"No, I'm fine, but do you know if I'm getting out today?"

"I don't know, I'll go ask one of the nurses."

"Thank you."

Blaine lent back onto his soft pillows and watched as Kurt walked out of the small hospital room.

"The nurse said as long as you feel up to it you can go home, so I guess we can go home today if you want."

"To your home?"

"Yes, you said you were going to stay with me and I'm not letting you change your mind."

"It's ok, I wasn't going to change my mind this time, I can't live on the streets like this." Blaine said, gesturing to his bruised face.

"So what actually happened last night?"

"Well I had this friend, Joel, and when I was staying with him he got court up with drugs and stuff, and well one of the people he supplied called round one day, that was the day I left Joel's."

"Wait, so did this all happen yesterday?"

"What, no, this happened a few weeks ago."

"Oh, ok, carry on then."

"Ok, well I ran away from the drug dealer at Joel's and that's when Rachel found me, I was sleeping outside her apartment, Then she got me something to eat and I went back to playing my guitar on street corners. I stayed like that for a bit, then you found me and we went for coffee."

"Ok I know all about that, tell me about what happened last night."

"Ok, well the drug dealer, the one Joel knew, found me somehow and said he was looking for Joel. I didn't know where Joel was so he and his mates beat me up, there wasn't really much I could do about it, I guess I'm just lucky you found me."

"Blaine, why didn't you tell me?" Kurt sympathised, walking over to sit next to him on the bed.

"Tell you what?"

"That you had a drug dealer stalking you."

"Well I never knew he was after me, I just thought he had it in for Joel."

"You should have told me about Joel then, I could have helped you out of this mess."

"Maybe, but I thought once I had left Joel's I would have been alright."

"Oh, well you're good now."

Kurt pulled him into a tight hug, making his bruises ache but he didn't complain.

"Come on shall we get out of here, I'll go talk to the receptionist, you get changed."

Blaine did what he was told, slipping his hospital gown off and pulling on his old jeans and shirt. He had no other clothes so he had to wear the same dirty red jacket over the top.

"You ready?" Kurt asked as he walked back into the small room. "I think we need to get you some more clothes."

Blaine looked down at himself. "Why, what's wrong with this?"

"Blaine I work for a fashion magazine, you do not have good style trust me. Also when was the last time this thing got washed?" Kurt asked, pulling at the collar of the red jacket.

"Are we going then?" Blaine asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, follow me." Kurt ordered, linking Blaine's arm in his own.

They walked out of the hospital and took the subway to Kurt's apartment.

When they got in Blaine was amazed at how tidy it was, Kurt's bedroom was defiantly never like this when they were younger.

"This is your room." Kurt announced, opening a door off the living room.

Blaine walked into the small room, which would be his bedroom while he stayed with Kurt. The walls painted white, except one which was a wall of sheet music. The curtains against the window were also white and were patterned with treble clefs. In one corner there was a black, sleek piano with music books piled high on top of it.

"I don't know if you guessed, but this used to be my old music room." Kurt chirped in.

"It's beautiful, you shouldn't have turned it into a bedroom."

"Well where else would you have slept? Any way it's not a proper bedroom it's just a room with a bed, it still has all my music and stuff."

"Thank you Kurt, for everything." Blaine said as he pulled Kurt into a bone crushing hug.

"It's ok, really."

"I know, just without you I'd probably still be on that sidewalk."

"Well you're here now and you can stay here as long as you want, ok. Anyway I have something for you."

"What, where?" Blaine asked as Kurt walked out of the room.

"Here, I figured you might need them, especially the guitar." Kurt said, handing Blaine his back pack and his guitar.

"Thank you, you really are the best you know."

"I know, just don't go making me big headed now." Kurt winked. "I'll go and get you some clean clothes to change into shall I, and you can do whatever."

Blaine went and sat on the big, white bed that was in the corner. He looked around the room, it really was beautiful, so elegant and sleek, so Kurt.

Kurt came in again after a few minutes with a pile of clean clothes.

"Here you go, I know you're not really into the same style of clothes I like so I just brought you some jeans and shirts and stuff. Anyway, I'll leave you to change. I'm going to make some lunch in a bit as well, would you like some?"

"Um, yeah, sounds lovely."

"Cool, I'll call you when it's ready."

Kurt gave him one last smile before shutting the door, leaving Blaine alone.


End file.
